muay thai kickboxing

[Mathew James]

Originally Posted by Ciqala

My passion is to move. To defy gravity. To move my body in ways that no one else can and somehow connect to the universe in that way. I want to be strong, and harness my inner warrior in a good way.

What works best for me are speed bags at home. Have four bags set up around a seven foot circle at heights from 5' to 6'. Stand in the middle and spin kicks at the four bags. Its great. Also have three bags on one cord (top bag is round, middle bag is cylinder shape, and bottom bag is also round). This setup gets the bag moving in alot of directions so it is harder to hit and move with. The ability to always challenge myself is there, but it is strickly seen as an exercise. One primary goal is to control the thoughts that enter my mind about the back of my heel taking somebodies head off. Need to shut those thoughts down fast and they like to pop up. My background is in a hard/hard style and have crushed my hands into concrete many times to make them stronger. So this stuff messes up your body more then you may think.

I find my peace in violence. I am a muay thai practitioner too. I don't think your spiritual journey will conflict with your physical one. The competition could probably help you on your way. I think it's healthy.

Ciqala, yeah, moving feels good.

Matthew James, I have always wanted a speed bag or punching bag.

[Mathew James]

Originally Posted by Iskandar

I find my peace in violence. I am a muay thai practitioner too. I don't think your spiritual journey will conflict with your physical one. The competition could probably help you on your way. I think it's healthy.

great peace Iskandar, for me the thoughts of violence would come with a feeling of pleasure of what the violence was doing. That is what created the conflict for me. There are still many great paths and journeys still ahead without the thoughts of violence for me, which you stated one could be competition. However, the concept of competition for me is all out violence.

Matthew James: that's awesome, i have a work out room in my house and it's amazing, with bags and other stuff as well. Yeah I'm all too aware of how much it messes up your body, i indulged in extreme things back in the day as well before i got into fighting, some really ridiculous extreme activities too. I remember back in the day i also trained in drunken ninja jujitsu when i was an alcoholic, that was a horrible idea! and we used to have illegal fight clubs, another horrible idea! I have come a far way since then, thankfully.

But even now, when i even do nothing, i'm always injured - recently i slipped a disc in my lower back from skipping jump rope too much (apparently as said the physiotherapist but i don't see how that's possible) so i've had to take another long while off doing nothing, or at least activities i can do. i am getting annoyed at how much i injure myself.

Does anyone else suffer from a curse of random freak accidents and injuries? Could there be a spiritual reasoning behind that...

Iskandar, as far as finding peace in violence, i could never manage that, but i'm glad you have found out how to. And as far as my physical journey conflicting with my spiritual one - it always does - i have no concept of control or balance in that way. I get addicted to it.
I've decided not to go back to muay thai. But i'll train in other ways.
It really sucks, i have no idea really what to do anymore concerning physical activities. Have no idea how to defeat my addiction either. But i digress.
100000000 injuries later.

[Mathew James]

Originally Posted by Ciqala

- recently i slipped a disc in my lower back from skipping jump rope too much (apparently as said the physiotherapist but i don't see how that's possible) so i've had to take another long while off doing nothing

no, no , no... you did not say that... I just started skipping rope yesterday !

Originally Posted by Mathew James

no, no , no... you did not say that... I just started skipping rope yesterday !

Haha you'll be fine, i don't even know how i managed that - was probably due to one of my crazy dance stunts. Do you have one of those speed ropes?
It's the best thing for endurance ever. Such fun too. You should try doing HIIT with jump rope, I tried doing HIIT with it, passed out and collapsed the first time (horrible cramp), since then i can jump rope non stop for hours. It doubles the intensity of any other endurance activity, has amazing benefits. Oh how I miss the days of not being injured! I think skipping is probably one of my favourite things.
One of my Masters (80 years old) could jump rope for 24 hours non stop at extremely high intensity, that guy is amazing.

They used to make us skip rope during training classes, but it was so packed, and i would get so mad, that i would deliberately smack people with the rope at full speed, and that hurts, i know because i was skipping really fast barefoot this one time, it was a plastic rope, and it hit the bottom of my foot when i didn't keep up with the pace, and actually cut it open and it bled everywhere, couldn't walk right for a few weeks. so i wouldn't skip rope with bare feet really fast unless you have good control with it lol, pretty sure no one else in history has done that. i don't know how i injure myself with the weirdest things, but i do. but i still love skipping.

[Mathew James]

thats good info Ciqala.

[Dreamer_love]

I've trained MMA and currently train Muay Thai.

Sparring is about applying your skills and techniques and getting a direct feedback from your partner, a counter, penetrating his/her defences, getting hit, etc.

You should spar without letting your emotions restrict you. Without any thinking actually. Just try to move fluently and remember it is about training instead of damaging eachother. Also respect your partner.

When I get hit, during sparring, I touch gloves with my partner and give him a smile. Being able to get hit is equally important.
I try to focus as much as I can on speed and technique, instead of using power. I try to ''win'' my sparring rounds without having to rely on musclepower. But sometimes I come across certain guys which always throw their weight into the punch, most of the time this is an unconscious trait. If this is not the case I forceably extort my respect back.

As for channeling my, aggression, I've got a 220 lbs costum made heavy bag set up with which I dance every now and then.

[Dreamer_love]

Originally Posted by Iskandar

I find my peace in violence. I am a muay thai practitioner too. I don't think your spiritual journey will conflict with your physical one. The competition could probably help you on your way. I think it's healthy.

Well said my friend.